They are the defending Super Bowl champions in name only right now, a team barely playing like a post-season contender.

Of course, the New York Giants have been down this road before.

But as they officially arrive at the put up or shut up time of their season, the G-men will have to do something late Sunday afternoon that has been completely foreign to them in recent years: Stop New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

If they are unable to do so in what is expected to be a damp MetLife Stadium, the road to a repeat gets significantly more challenging.

In four games against the Giants, Brees has never lost as he has tossed no fewer than 11 touchdowns. Late last November, Brees has rarely been better after a 363-yard, four TD performance on Monday night football that resulted in a 49-24 Saints win. One team exited that game looking like Super Bowl material and it wasn’t the one in blue.

So much has changed since that prime-time affair, for both teams.

The Saints rolled into the playoffs as strong contenders but lost in the second round to the San Francisco 49ers. In the off-season, the Saints were embroiled in the Bountygate scandal which resulted in a poor start to the season and a current record of 5-7 that means they’ll likely have to win out to have a shot at the playoffs.

After the Saints game, their third consecutive loss, the Giants got their act together and acted nothing like a 9-7 regular-season team, running the table in the post-season capped by a Super Bowl upset of the New England Patriots.

And now it looks like they will require another late-season rush of momentum.

After getting stumped by Redskins rookie Robert Griffin III on Monday night, the Giants are in a position where another loss could threaten their hold on top spot in the NFC East. And they are fully expecting to see more of the Brees, who has torched their defence in the past than the one who barfed up an uncharacteristic five interceptions in his most recent game, a Saints loss to the Atlanta Falcons that put their post-season hopes on life support.

“Coming off a game where he threw five picks, we know that’s not going to happen again for sure,” Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora told New York reporters this week. “He’s a great quarterback. This guy presents entirely too many problems.

“It’s not going to be easy and at the end of the day we have to find a way to slow him down because we have to win this game. I played against Drew Brees four times in my career, and they’ve been blowouts every single time.”

Umenyiora and fellow Giants defenders Justin Tuck and Jason Paul-Pierre could play a huge role Sunday in suppressing a repeat performance by Brees, who has put up a combined 97 points in his past two meetings between the two teams. Last week they had difficulty adapting to RG3’s mobility but in the previous week they sacked Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers five times.

The Giants have concerns of their own to be sure. Their own two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Eli Manning has been off form at times, though, at least he’ll get a chance to face a suspect Saints defence on Sunday.

So far this season the Giants are just one of three teams to lose to the awful Philadelphia Eagles and were blown out by Cincinnati. On the other hand, they were dominant 26-3 winners over San Franciso and 38-10 over the Packers. That 7-5 record has them just one game up on Dallas and Washington heading into their final four games.

After the Saints, the Giants have a pair of challenging road contests — in Atlanta next week followed by Baltimore — before ending with a home date against the Eagles. With that dance card, a loss to the Saints would leave little margin for error.

“Right now we are 7-5 and in first place in our division,” Manning said this week. “We have four games left. I like where we are right now. We just have to make sure we finish strong. It starts this week with the Saints game.”

BREES GUN SHY? NO WAY

NEW YORK — After the worst game of his career, will Drew Brees be gun shy against the reigning Super Bowl champions?

Not a chance.

Live by the toss, die by the toss seems to be the Saints’ quarterback’s philosophy. If anything, his five interception “performance” in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons last time out has Brees fired up.

“You stay aggressive, you stay confident,” Brees told reporters in New Orleans this week. “If you don’t have trust and confidence in this league as a quarterback, you can’t play.

“I understand the importance of taking care of the football. The last two weeks, the amount of turnovers can’t happen. But as far as being cautious or conservative, that’s not going to happen.”

Perhaps most frustrating for the Saints in that 23-13 loss to the Falcons was that it was a game they were statistically dominating. But with uncharacteristic sloppiness from their QB (and poor clock management at the end of the first half), the Saints made it easy for their division rivals.

“Drew’s not going to change,” Saints’ interim coach Joe Vitt said. “Drew hasn’t changed his preparation. Drew’s not going to change with his ability to challenge a tight throw.”